Adoption: The Making of Me. An Oral History of Adoptee Stories

Kathleen: A Reunion Full of Surprises

Louise Browne & Sarah Reinhardt Season 8 Episode 9

Kathleen was born in 1968 in Northern California. Her birth mother relinquished her for adoption immediately upon birth, and Kathleen was then adopted by a loving family who already had a 3-year-old adopted son. 

When Kathleen was 22 years old she found her birth mother. Thirty years later she learned that her birth father was an enforcer for the Hells Angels and was shot and killed when Kathleen was seven years old.

She also learned that she has at least seven sisters and one brother on her father’s side -- all from different mothers from the same birth father. Each of her siblings is about a year apart. Kathleen has met most of her siblings and remains in contact with each of them to this day.

Kathleen is a sociology professor living with her spouse in Honolulu and continues to make sense of her adoption experience through a sociological lens.

To hear the full call of Kathleen's Birth Mother:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjt5_vLQYK4
LINK to hear the full call to Kathleen's Birth Mother.


Correction to the episode from Kathleen:  It has been 5 years since finding all of my 8 birth siblings. However, just a year and a half since Marianne and Kenny passed away.

To skip ahead to the interview go to timestamp: 14:55

The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler

September 7th in Kansas City, Missouri
Eventbrite:
LIVE RECORDED PODCAST  with Adoption: The Making of Me (ATMOM) & A PHOTO JOURNEY with Jeff Forney of The Innocent People Project

RESOURCES for Adoptees
S12F Helping Adoptees
Gregory Luce and Adoptees Rights Law
Joe Soll & other adoptee resources
Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group
Reckoning with the Primal Wound Documentary
Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement
Hiraeth Hope & Healing
Moses Farrow
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988.


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